Utrecht University experts researchers receive NWO funding
Lorena De Vita, Merel van Goch, Ruud Hortensius, Verena Seibel, Friedemann Polzin and Iryna Susha are awarded Dutch Research Council (NWO) Open Competition SSH XS funding. The grant of up to EUR 50,000 offers researchers the chance to launch a promising idea or innovative initiative. A total of 60 research projects will receive funding from the pilot programme.
Projects and laureates
Project: Wording Repair: Digitally Unveiling the History of Reparative Justice in the Words of a Forgotten Diary
This Open Competition grant will allow me and my team to conduct ground-breaking research.
Lorena De Vita
Department of History and Art History
Profile picture Lorena de Vita
Dr. Lorena De Vita (Faculty of Humanities)
Reparations in the Words of a Forgotten Diary
German jurist Otto Küster (1907-1989) dedicated much of his professional life to the quest for reparations for Holocaust survivors. He did so while taking notes in personal diaries, on an almost daily basis, which have never been made available to researchers until now.
This project will investigate the history of reparation in the aftermath of mass human rights abuse, by employing digital tools. While using and advancing handwritten-character recognition (HCR) technology, Wording Repair will provide bottom-up insights that will contribute to shaping the emerging field of historical reparations studies.
“This Open Competition grant will allow me and my team to conduct ground-breaking research,” De Vita reacts. “We will work towards integrating deeply personal histories with those about institutions and practices of repair in the wake of gross human rights abuse, tracing the history of one of the most delicate and complex topics that characterised the course of the twentieth century.”
Project: Once Upon a Time in Academia: How Campus Novels Can Improve PhD Candidates’ Well-being
What is the Impact of Campus Novels on PhD Candidates’ Well-being?
Merel van Goch
School of Liberal Arts
Merel van Goch
Dr. Merel van Goch (Faculty of Humanities)
The Impact of Campus Novels on PhD Candidates’ Well-being
The well-being of PhD candidates is under pressure and many experience imposter feelings. Reading for pleasure increases people’s well-being: stories, and especially humour in stories, can help people by creating reflective distance from reality.
In her research, Van Goch hypothesises that campus novels – novels set on college campuses, told from the perspectives of faculty or students – are particularly effective, because they are characterised by dark humour and satire. She has groups of PhD candidates reflect on campus novel texts together, and study the interaction between texts and readers, and the effects of group reflection on well-being.
“This project differs from other suggestions to relieving PhD candidates’ imposter feelings in that it is an evidence-based, non-academic leisure activity as a means to improve their situation,” Van Goch says. “With this grant we can contribute to a growing field of research, as studies on the positive impact of shared reading on mental well-being is steadily accumulating, but is still in an exploratory stage.”
Project: A group-centred mobile lab to study the impact of artificial intelligence on family social dynamics
The question is how to describe family dynamics in this era of artificial intelligence.
Ruud Hortensius
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Dr. Ruud Hortensius (Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences)
Virtual assistants
Hortensius states in his project that virtual assistants are increasingly part of families: “The question is how we can describe family dynamics in this era of artificial intelligence.” With his project, the Utrecht scientist wants to develop a new group-oriented mobile lab to understand the influence of interactions with virtual assistants on the social dynamics of families. “By using an innovative neurocognition-in-the-home approach, we can take both behavioural and brain measurements of all family members. In this way, we map out the social dynamics in great detail.”